Saturday, June 26, 2010

So, how does one fit a 3000 squ ft house into a 28 litre bag? This continues to baffle me for several reasons. First, what exactly is 28 litres? I buy the 4 litre jug of milk at the grocery store but I hadn’t actually planned to fill the bag with milk. And how does one measure the liquid volume? Hopefully, they didn’t use my bag.

Second, for an educator, this is like a critical thinking dream question. Tom wants to take nothing, believing we can buy it if we need it. I have more of an extreme planner approach. It is like a puzzle to me. Kind of like that game where you are going to live on an island and you can only take three things or whatever. Do you take the matches…or the curling iron?

Just what IS essential to one’s survival in Europe? How many pairs of underwear does one need? There is something a wee bit disconcerting about having only one pair with you but would it be overkill to pack seven pairs? And what about pants? I mean, how many days can you wear the same pair before you just can’t stand the thought of donning them one more time? My daughter rarely makes it through the day in the same pants. With my son, I have to pry the filthy pants off him to wash them each week. I might be able to find a satisfactory medium there somewhere but don’t get me started on shoes…

What about a reading light so I can read early in the morning without waking everyone up? What about the purse size Tide to remove spots so we don’t look like the great unwashed? If you think that isn't essential, you haven't eaten with my family. What about eating? Are spices essential? Only if you want flavour. What about Band-Aids? Advil? Who can travel without THAT? And I hate to sound vain, but let’s face it, one’s make-up needs increase with age and honestly, I think I do those around me a great service by applying it. On the other hand, I’m not certain my son knows what a hairbrush is… Actually, that could work in my favour. There could be quite a bit of extra space in his bag.